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Aphrodite was the World War II code name of a United States Army Air Forces operation to use worn out Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated PB4Y bombers as radio controlled flying bombs against bunkers and other hardened or reinforced enemy facilities.
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II.
The Collings Foundation B-17G N93012 restored to represent B-17G Nine-O-Nine of the 323rd Bomb Squadron, one of two longest-serving B-17's of the 91st BG; the original "Nine-O-Nine" was scrapped after World War II in Kingman, Arizona. One of the last QB-17 Drones at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, 1959
DB-17 was the designation for B-17s converted as drone director aircraft. They would be used to guide the QB-17 target drones during the missile tests. [1] [3] When they were worn out or the need was diminished, other postwar military B-17s would more often than not be sent to Middletown and converted to the QB-17 drone configuration.
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engine heavy bomber used by the United States Army Air Forces and other Allied air forces during World War II. Forty-five planes survive in complete form, [ 1 ] [ a ] including 38 in the United States with many preserved in museum displays.
Late in World War II, at least 25 B-17s were fitted with radio controls as BQ-7 drones for Operation Aphrodite. Loaded with 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) of Torpex high explosive and enough fuel for 350 mi (560 km), they were to be used to attack Nazi U-boat pens, V-1 flying bomb sites, and bomb-resistant fortifications .
This list of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress operators is a list of users who flew and operated the Boeing B-17. The B-17 was among the first mass-produced four-engined heavy bombers. A total of more than 12,000 were made, making its use as a heavy bomber second only to the B-24 Liberator .
[97] [98] The B-17, of the 224th AAF Base Unit, out of Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa, was part of a formation of bombers on a camera-gunnery mission, en route to Bruning AAF, which was flying in several elements. The fighter struck the wing man of the second element of the low formation. [99] Only four crew of ten aboard the B-17 managed to ...